A good troubleshooting article should do more than list twelve things to click. It should help you recognize the problem, find the likely cause, and understand what each step is supposed to accomplish. “Try again later” may occasionally be the right advice, but it needs a reason.
This policy sets out how WhyIsItNotWorking.net approaches its guides.
Start With the Problem Readers Actually Have
We distinguish between symptoms that sound similar but call for different checks. An app that crashes on launch, an app that cannot connect, and an app that rejects your password are three separate problems. Our articles should make clear which one they address.
When a problem can have several causes, we explain the clues that help narrow them down. We do not present a possible cause as a confirmed diagnosis.
Put Steps in a Useful Order
We aim to begin with checks that are quick, easy to reverse, and informative. More disruptive steps come later. Each instruction should tell you what to do and, when it is helpful, what the result means.
If a step may sign you out, reset preferences, remove locally stored data, or affect other devices, we flag that before you try it. A factory reset should never appear as a casual suggestion between “check your connection” and “have you tried turning it off and on again?”
Instructions should also identify the relevant device, operating system, app, or service when that distinction matters. Menus move. Buttons get renamed. We aim to make those differences clear rather than pretending every screen looks the same.
Be Careful With Claims
We use reliable documentation and other relevant sources to check technical details. We separate confirmed information from likely explanations and say when an outage, software update, or account issue may be outside the reader’s control.
We do not claim to have personally tested a fix unless we have done so. We also do not promise that a step will work for everyone. A useful guide can tell you when a fix is worth trying and when its limits matter.
Keep Recommendations Independent
If an article includes a commercial link or sponsored material, it should be clearly identified.
Payment should not turn an uncertain fix into a “guaranteed solution,” or place a paid product ahead of a simpler check that might solve the problem.
Correct Problems in Our Own Articles
Technology changes, and our instructions can become outdated.
If we find a factual error, an unsafe step, or directions that no longer match the current version of a product, we aim to correct the article. Significant changes should be made clear to readers.
If you spot an error, tell us which article you were reading, what step caused trouble, and what device or software version you used, if relevant.
“It doesn’t work” is a familiar starting point. A few extra details help us figure out why.